


Getting Cold

by Dreamers_den



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: After chapter 10, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Tired Mando, Touch-Starved, getting cold, there will be Mandalorian/Cobb Vanth in future chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28320003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamers_den/pseuds/Dreamers_den
Summary: Crashing on ice planet has consequences. It doesn´t matter how tough you are, all humans can catch cold. And sneezing with helmet on is no fun. Din knows that and decides to take a break from his quest, to recover. And maybe to visit some friends too, because he can´t take care of The Child while he´s ill.
Comments: 31
Kudos: 110





	1. Chapter 1

He woke with a startle, turning his helmeted head around a bit disoriented. The cockpit was warm. The ship was never warm, and Mandalorian was half-way out of his seat before he could even properly wake up. After everything that happened to Razor Crest in the last days, he wouldn´t be too surprised to find it on fire.

But then the alarms would be probably blazing. Instead, the floor slightly swayed under his feet and he had to lean on the back of his seat. It took a couple of seconds until he regained balance – longer than it should. Maybe he should try to sleep more often. His quest to deliver the Child was more exhausting than expected, barely leaving him with any time to rest.

Sighing, Mandalorian took a deep breath and moved to back of cockpit again. He could feel the warmth on his face and sniffed for smoke. He kept looking around as he climbed down the ladder and paced through the ship. At first glance, he couldn´t see anything suspicious, but the uneasy feeling didn´t fade.

It was too warm, he could practically feel the heat on his face under the helmet. Stopping, Mandalorian pulled a glove off and pressed the palm against the surface of weapons vault. Freezing cold. Then he slipped fingers under the chin of his helmet, brushing the skin on his neck. Burning.

“Oh.” The vocoder made it sound like huff and Mandalorian slowly sunk on one of the boxes. He had to wait for a moment, until the deck stopped spiralling around him. This was unpleasant. 

He shouldn´t be surprised. After the fight with giant spiders, it took him hours to fix Razor Crest enough to take off and Mandalorian had to do most of repairs outside, in the freezing cold. Then he almost drowned, which didn´t help him either. Obviously, it had consequences. He sniffled, shivering involuntarily.

_Just don´t sneeze._

This could be a real problem. Catching cold was something he could ignore, or just silently suffer through. But if it got worse… sneezing and coughing aren´t the most pleasant things to do under helmet.

Mandalorian sniffled again. 

Okay, time for the plan B. Obviously, he couldn´t continue to Corvus like this, and not just because of the bad shape of Razor Crest. Out of corner of his visor, Mandalorian noticed the Child waddling towards him.

“Hey, buddy,” he said, frowning at hoarse sound of his own voice. “What do you think about taking small detour?”

The Child cooed, curiously tilting his green head. He reached Mandalorian´s boot and dug his tiny claws in leather, as if trying to climb up. 

With a sigh, Mandalorian picked him and placed him on his knee. “We should get the ship fixed,” he said, clearing his throat a bit. His mouth felt dry as if he tried to eat a handful of sand. Swallowing didn´t really help, only made him more aware of the thirst.

As if sensing Mandalorian´s discomfort, the Child loudly cooed and patted Mandalorian´s chest plate. His large, shiny eyes seemed almost worried and he cooed again and reached towards the helmet tilted in his way.

“´m okay,” Mandalorian said automatically. “Just a bit tired. Why don´t you go take a nap and I´ll find us some place to land?”

Preferably a place with good mechanics. He didn´t want to rely on random Mon Calamari with his ship again, if he could avoid it. Also, he should probably look for someone to take care about the Child, in case the cold gets worse. Mandalorian rarely got ill, but a bad fever could get in a way of taking care about the Child and he didn´t want to risk that.

Mechanics. Friends. Sighing, Mandalorian had to admit that he probably knew more of the first kind. He slowly got up and carried the Child to their bunk in the wall. Child cooed when he set him down, but didn´t struggle. For a moment, Mandalorian leant on the wall and watched the Child lying in the hammock.

He flinched when he felt incoming sneeze and forcefully pressed the button which would close the sleeping space. After a moment of sniffling and heavy breathing, the need to sneeze subdued and Mandalorian leant against the wall again, one hand on the edge of the helmet.

Mentally, he went through the short list of places where he knew people whom he could trust with the Child. It didn´t take long, as there were only two planets on the list – Nevarro and Tatooine. And he didn´t know any mechanics on Nevarro.

“Hopes you like deserts,” he muttered towards the Child´s sleeping space and headed for the cockpit.

After setting the coordinates for Tatooine, Mandalorian tried to make himself comfortable in his seat. He had a few hours of flight ahead of him, so he could just take a nap too. Sniffling, he slipped his still ungloved hand under the helmet. He felt hot and cold at the same time and shivered a bit despite wearing thick clothes.

Hopefully, Peli would be willing to watch the kid for a few days. But the woman could be quite nosy, and despite trying to scam him every chance she got, she seemed to be fond of Mandalorian. If she found out that he was ill, she might try to take care about him too. He needed privacy, not prying people with good intentions.

That reminded him another person with good intentions, whom he met on Tatooine – Cobb Vanth. During the fight with krayt dragon, Mandalorian was ready to entrust Child´s future to Vanth, so this shouldn´t be a big deal. But it would be a bit awkward to visit Vanth and ask for his help after he practically threatened to peel the armour off Vanth´s dead body during their first meeting.

Hopefully, slaying a dragon together compensated for that bumpy first meeting. And Mos Pelgo clearly trusted Marshal who was taking care about it. If Vanth could oversee whole town, he could handle babysitting one green womp rat. 

Mandalorian coughed a bit, air scraping his dry throat. He checked the screens on control board, slowly turning his visor from side to side. It would be wisest to stay at Mos Pelgo for a few days, until the cold passes. Then he can head over to Peli, to have the ship properly fixed.

After checking their course, Mandalorian leant back in his seat. Usually, the hum of engines would easily lull him to sleep, but he didn´t like the sound of left engine. It sounded almost as if the ship was coughing a bit too, like its pilot. Hopefully, it would hold together until they reach Tatooine.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mando caught a cold and sneezing and coughing aren´t the most pleasant things to do under helmet. Hence, he looks for a place where he could rest and recover. If the place offered someone reliable to watch the Child, even better. With his options limited, he decides to go back to Mos Pelgo, hoping that the Marshal was serious when he wished that their paths would cross again.

Obviously, it wasn´t a nice landing. It wasn´t the worst either, but that wasn´t much to say after the last few weeks. At least they landed in one piece and nothing attacked them immediately. Sniffling, Mandalorian turned the engines off and turned to Child sitting in the passenger seat.

“Time to take a walk,” he said, trying to sound casual despite his throat burning.

The Child lifted his gaze from the shiny ball he was playing with, and cooed. Why he liked the toy was beyond Mandalorian´s understanding, but he seemed to be so captivated by it, that Mandalorian just let him play.

“Come here,” he said softly.

Mandalorian got up to walk over to Child, and slightly swayed on his feet. His head was lowkey spinning, but not enough to make him too worried. It was just a bit distracting and he had to remind himself to focus on how he put one foot in front of the other as he went to fetch the Child.

“Let´s hope that we´re still welcome in Mos Pelgo.”

Yes, he saved the town not that long ago, but you never know. Tatooine is a harsh world and good deeds are often either punished or quickly forgotten. Still, Mandalorian hoped that Marshal Vanth would be willing to offer a bit of hospitability to someone who saved his town from a monstrous threat.

Step by step, Mandalorian walked down the ramp of his ship. Like expected, he was welcome by sight of weapons. Fortunately, when the locals recognized his shiny armour, they lowered their blasters.

Doing his best to keep the balance on the sand, Mandalorian walked over to line of defenders. “Where can I find Marshal Vanth?” he asked, having to clear his throat a bit mid-sentence.

“Right here,” a voice emerged from the small crowd, and Mandalorian turned to see Cobb Vanth approaching him with the trademark smile.

Nodding his helmed slightly in greeting, Mandalorian turned to him. He cleared his throat again and waited until the Marshal would come close.

“Nice to see you again, partner,” Vanth said, offering his hand for a shake. He looked just like the last time they met – dressed in simple clothes, with his favourite red scarf wrapped around his neck. Without the armour, he looked even skinner, but there was still a blaster hanging low on his hip and a confident smirk on his face.

Mandalorian shifted the Child over to free his right hand and gripped Vanth´s outstretched forearm. He didn´t have many friends in the galaxy, but he hoped that Vanth could eventually get on the list. There was something strangely positive about the man and about the way he smiled despite the harsh life he led.

“I hope that you´re not here to hunt down more dragons, we´re kinda out of them right now,” Vanth said, smiling. 

“That´s good-” Mandalorian started, but was cut off by a sharp cough. He quickly regained his posture. “Could you watch over the Child for few days?” he asked, going straight to the business.

The question made Vanth raise his eyebrows. “What are you going to do?” he asked.

Unsure how to answer, Mandalorian focused on staying upright, without swaying too much. Still, he couldn´t supress a sniffle, and Vanth somehow noticed, even through the helmet.

“Are you all right, pal?” he asked, placing a hand on Mandalorian´s shoulder.

“Yes.” Mandalorian quickly pushed the Child to Vanth´s arms. “I—ahh…” he softly gasped, trying to suppress a sneeze. “It´s just a cold,” he added, when the discomfort passed. “I´ll stay in the ship, if there´s emergency, just come to fetch me.”

“Why don´t you stay at my place?” Vanth asked, leaning the Child on his hip like Peli used to. He was watching the Mandalorian with concerned expression and Din couldn´t stop himself from averting his gaze, grateful for privacy of the helmet.

How was he supposed to explain? People never fully understood his creed and he felt too tired to repeat the same thing again. 

“The helmet.”

“Oh.” Vanth´s eyebrows twitched up. Fortunately, he didn´t pry anymore, instead he looked over his shoulder and then back at Mandalorian. “You could stay at my place, you know? The bedroom is upstairs, you´d have enough privacy to rest. I´ve been practically living on my couch lately, anyway. It would be no change.”

But Mandalorian was already shaking his head. “I don´t want to bother you-”

“It would be no bother,” Vanth cut him off with a fond smile. “Come on, partner. Let´s get you to bed so you can work on that cold.”

For a moment, Mandalorian just silently watched him, unsure what to do. Both Vanth and the Child were looking at him with expectation in their bright eyes. He swallowed, trying to ignore the ache in his throat. He already trusted Vanth with the Child, he could trust the man with this too, right?

“All right.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mando returned to Mos Pelgo, to take a break from his quest and recover from a cold. Fortunately, Marshal Vanth is willing to take care about the Child in the meantime. He even offered Mando a place in his own house. Tired and ill, Mando accepts the offer, hoping that he wouldn´t have to regret it.

Vanth´s house was simple and small, like all other houses in Mos Pelgo. Being a Marshal didn´t seem to buy him any special privileges, but at least he was living alone and had some spare space for Mandalorian.

“Please ignore the mess,” Vanth said with apologetic smile, when they entered. It seemed that he was using the ground level as some hybrid between kitchen, living room and workshop. There were parts and tools scattered on the table, and some boxes with electronics casually pushed to wall.

“What mess?” Mandalorian retorted, shaking his head. It was kind of Vanth to offer him place to stay, he wasn´t about to criticize a bit of clutter. As he turned to look at the work table, he swayed a bit, and Vanth quickly put a hand on his shoulder.

“All´s good, partner?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Mandalorian just sniffled and nodded. His throat was getting drier by minute and he was suspecting that it wasn´t fault of Tatooine weather. If he could just sit down for a moment, that would be perfect.

Sighing, Vanth patted his shoulder. “You look like you could use some rest. Come one. Let´s tuck you in.” He led Mandalorian upstairs, to a tiny bedroom. The space was cramped with small bed, chest with clothes and upside-down crate that served as a nightstand. Vanth temporarily put the Child on nightstand, while he patted the pillow and straightened the blanket. “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” Mandalorian said hoarsely.

“You can take your armour off, if you want,” Vanth offered. “I´ll take the Child with me and watch over him.”

“He can be a handful,” Mandalorian warned him.

Chuckling, Vanth picked the Child up again. “We´ll manage. Just get some rest, okay? Will you need anything else?” he added, as an afterthought. 

“A bit of water, please.”

A cup of water and two extra pillows later, Mandalorian was finally left alone in his new room. Sighing, he lied down and pulled the blanket over himself. With the door closed and Vanth entertaining the Child downstairs, Mandalorian could finally take his helmet off (and sneeze). If he could properly breathe, it would be almost comfortable. Hopefully, a bit of rest would do him good and he would be able to continue his journey soon.

If only he knew how wrong he was! 

Next day, Mandalorian woke up wheezing for air. For a second, he thought that he was drowning again and gasped, only to find himself on a very dry bed. A fit of coughing racked his body and Mandalorian leant forward to lease his lungs a bit.

He was burning.

With a trembling hand, he pulled a glove off and pressed the palm to his forehead. It was covered with sweat and hot and for a minute, Mandalorian just silently panted with head in his hands, trying to clear the fog from his mind.

There was no doubt that he was ill, that was for sure. Another round of dry cough shook him and Mandalorian had to lean both hands on the bed to keep himself sitting. When he finally caught his breath, he slowly looked around. 

It took him a moment to focus on Vanth´s room and another one to remember that he asked Vanth to watch over the Child. Sighing, Mandalorian reached for his helmet and carefully put it on, trying not to trigger another fit of coughing. He wanted nothing else then to bury himself back in the bed, but he had to use the bathroom and possibly check on the Child too. 

He staggered downstairs, heavily leaning on the wall all the time. The floor under his feet didn´t feel as solid as it should, almost as if he was wading through shifting sand. Finally reaching the common space, he was greeted by sight of Vanth cooking at a small stove, while the Child was happily stuffing himself with his breakfast.

Almost immediately, the Child noticed his presence and loudly cooed, waving his tiny hands towards Mandalorian. The sound made Vanth turn around.

“Morning, partner,” he said with a smile. “How are you today?”

“I´ve been worse.”

Vanth chuckled and pointed his pan at the table. “Why don´t ya sit down? I´m almost done here.” He turned back to stove and kept shuffling the content of the pan around. 

For a moment, Mandalorian just silently watched him, unused to such a homely sight. The Child cooed again and returned to his meal, his long green ears happily twitching. It would be nice to just watch him like this, happy and safe and content, but Mandalorian was having hard time standing straight and had to lean on the wall for support.

“Come on,” Vanth waved on him, before doing a doubletake. He had to notice that something about Mandalorian´s stance was off, because he put the pan down and hastily walked over to the armoured man. “Hey, are you all right?”

Mandalorian cleared his throat and nodded. 

A little wrinkle on Vanth´s forehead deepened and he pulled Mandalorian´s arm around his shoulders to support him. “Maybe you should get back to bed,” he suggested seriously.

“Do you have a bathroom?” Mandalorian asked instead.

“What? Oh, sure. This way.”

Vanth helped his guest to stumble to a tiny bathroom and patiently waited behind the door. Then he supported Mandalorian again and the pair slowly hobbled back to bedroom. For a rough marshal, Vanth was surprisingly gentle and carefully helped Mandalorian lay down on the bed.

“What were you even doing?”

Sniffling, Mandalorian tried to take a deep breath, remembering his crash landing on icy planet while serving as a taxi driver to an informant. “Work,” he groaned.

Vanth patted him sympathetically on the helmet. “Better make yourself comfortable, it seems to me that you´re be staying here for a while.”

Mandalorian started to shake his head, not wanting to abuse Vanth´s hospitability, but Marshal didn´t give him a chance to protest. With decisive movements, Vanth pulled the blanked over Mandalorian and swiftly tucked the edges in.

“There you go. I´ll go grab some breakfast for you, and then you´re going to rest. Deal?”

Tiredly, Mandalorian watched Vanth through his visor. If he had more energy left, he would probably argue against being bossed around like this, but his nose was getting stuffy and he didn´t feel like he could inhale enough air for lengthy argument. 

“Deal.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No wonder that locals in Mos Pelgo like their Marshal so much – Vanth is rough, but friendly man who cares about his people. And it seems that Mandalorian somehow got on his list of “his people”, because Vanth goes out of his way to nurse his guest back to health.

Vanth kept his word and soon returned with a steaming plate in one hand, and a cup in other hand. He put both down on the nightstand and carefully laid a hand on Mandalorian´s shoulder.

“Hey, partner,” he said softly, “are you awake?”

Tiredly, Mandalorian nodded his helmeted head.

“I brought you breakfast,” Vanth said, pointing to nightstand. “Better eat something so you regain your strength faster.”

“Thank you,” Mandalorian retorted.

Vanth gave him a warm smile and braced a hand on his hip. “I better go check that green devil of yours before he eats my portion too,” he said, still smiling. “Dig in. And don´t hesitate to shout if you need anything else.”

The idea made Mandalorian chuckle. He didn´t feel like he could shout if he wanted to, his throat was too raw for that. But it was kind of Vanth to offer help, and Mandalorian did his best to pour the gratitude in his voice, when he thanked Vanth again.

Once he was left alone, he slowly pulled the helmet off and placed it on the bed next to his tight. Sighing, he sat up, glad that the bed was at the wall, so he could lean his back on it. The meal that Vanth prepared for him looked simple, but the smell still brought a faint smile on Mandalorian´s lips. The food was warm and nutritious and he downed it as fast as he could.

Then he lied back down, trying to find a comfortable position, which would make it easier to breathe through his stuffed nose. Eventually, he curled on his side, facing the door. He couldn´t stop his mind from drifting downstairs, to the man who willingly shared his house and food with a Mandalorian. 

_“Take it off. Or I will.”_

Sighing, Mandalorian shut his eyes tightly, trying to suppress the memory. Did the first thing he said to Vanth have to be a threat? Yes, the man was wearing a Mandalorian armour without having any right to it, but he did it to protect his hometown, not out of disrespect. And despite less than friendly first impression, Vanth was still willing to negotiate with Mandalorian, and to work with him side by side.

_“Right here, then?”_

Oh, yes. Here, in Mos Pelgo which he didn´t expect to see again this soon. The welcoming was surprisingly nice, though, all things considering. Vanth didn´t seem to be too upset by losing the armour, or getting rid of krayt dragon was acceptable compensation for him. 

It could have been worse, Mandalorian thought. He could be still stranded on that icy planet, or somewhere else, or stuck on the ship that was barely capable to fly after everything he put it through lately. Instead, he got a bed, food and privacy to rest without the helmet. Coming back to Tatooine was a good choice.

Several hours later, Mandalorian was torn out of his sleep by loud thumping on the door. He flinched and sat up too quickly, the room spinning around him.

“Hey, are you all right, pal?” Vanth yelled through the door, and from volume of it, Mandalorian assumed that he wasn´t asking the first time.

“Yeah,” he croaked out, bracing forehead on his palm to suppress the dizziness. “Don´t come in!” he yelled, when he realized that his helmet was off.

“Wasn´t going to,” Vanth replied. “Figured you´d take your helmet off to rest, and you were quite clear about never taking it off in front of others, so I didn´t want to bother you.”

While he was talking, Mandalorian quickly searched for said helmet, found it on the bed next to him and put it on. His head was still spinning a little, but he felt a bit more grounded with the helmet on. He noticed Vanth talking behind the door and strained his ears to listen.

“That´s not food,” Vanth was saying, his voice lower than before. “I told you the lunch was almost ready. Just be patient for a minute longer.”

Mandalorian could imagine the Child chewing on something he shouldn´t, and he had to softly smile. It sounded that Vanth was finding out that he had to constantly watch the womp rat to make sure that he wouldn´t eat anything inappropriate. 

“Is the Child all right?”

“Yes, he´s just- ah, chewing on my scarf a bit,” Vanth said, chuckling. “You sound different,” he added a bit more seriously. “The helmet´s on?”

“Yes. You can come in.”

Slowly, the door opened and Vanth appeared in front of Mandalorian. He was holding the Child in his arms, bracing him on one hip. The Child seemed content in his place, tightly holding the edge of Vanth´s red scarf in one tiny hand.

“Do you want to eat downstairs, or should I bring your lunch here?” 

Mandalorian thought about it, slightly tilting the helmet to side. He would like to watch over the Child, but if he wanted to eat too, he needed to be alone. “Here,” he said, the response followed by a short cough.

“How are you feeling?” Vanth asked thoughtfully.

Mandalorian shrugged. “I´ll be all right,” he retorted.

“You sure?” Vanth walked over to him and reached out, curling fingers around Mandalorian´s wrist as if he wanted to check his pulse.

“I´m still alive,” Mandalorian noted dryly, making Vanth chuckle.

“A bit warm, though,” he said. “Maybe I should actually check your temperature.”

Only then Mandalorian realized that Vanth slipped fingers under the edge of his sleeve and was feeling up his bare skin. The contact made his pulse speed up, and he struggled to keep his hand still. A slight tremble had to escape him, though, because Vanth curiously looked at him.

Mandalorian opened his mouth to explain, but he couldn´t find the words. How do you even tell someone that you´re not used to skin-to-skin touch? People already used to think that Mandalorian culture was strange. So far, Vanth didn´t question it and acted as if Mandalorian´s habits were completely common, and Mandalorian didn´t want that to change.

“I´ll bring you the lunch and then I´ll search for thermometer,” Vanth said, obvious to Mandalorian´s inner struggle. 

“Thank you,” Mandalorian replied a bit breathlessly.

Vanth finally let go of his wrist, leaving the tingling sensation on Mandalorian´s skin. He shifted the Child on his hip and smiled. “Don´t mention it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments, I love reading them.:)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mandalorian is used to be taking care about himself on his own. Being self-sufficient was always both a necessity and part of the creed. He doesn´t know how to react to Vanth´s hospitability and care, but some part of him just wants to accept it all and enjoy a bit of warmth in the cold, lonely galaxy.

When Mandalorian arrived to Mos Pelgo, he didn´t expect this. His intentions were to merely ask Vanth to watch over the Child, while he would be recovering on the ship. Instead, he ended up in Vanth´s house, sleeping in Vanth´s bed, eating his food. He received more hospitability and kindness that he would dare to dream about, and the most bewildering thing was, that Vanth seemed perfectly content with sharing his home with a stranger.

Right now, Marshal was cheerfully describing the soup recipe, after her just fed the Child and returned to fetch an empty plate from Mandalorian. He was sitting on the end of Mandalorian´s bed, with Child sitting on his lap, while Mandalorian was half-lying, half-leaning against the pillows.

“The trick is to fry the meat before you add it in, so it keeps the juices inside,” Vanth explained, knowingly tapping his nose. “And trust me, you don´t want bantha meat to get too dry, it´s like chewing on old boot!” he chuckled at his own joke, and Mandalorian couldn´t resist smiling as well.

It was easy to listen to Vanth´s smooth, warm voice. The man was a decent storyteller, and he seemed to enjoy audience, despite the said audience remained almost completely irresponsive. Every now and then, Mandalorian tried to add his own input into conversation, but it often led to coughing fit, so he rather remained quiet. It was rather entertaining to just lie down and listen to Vanth, especially when Marshal fondly complained about various things people wanted him to help with.

“You wouldn´t believe some of them,” Vanth said, shaking his head. “Sometimes, I feel more like jack-of-all-trades, than a Marshal. Last week, Jo asked me to fix her speeder bike. I say, woman, you´re the mechanic here. What do you expect me to do? Then she finally mentioned that the bike got swept under pile of sand bigger than she is, and that she needs me to dig it out.” he chuckled, tapping hand on Mandalorian´s leg.

The Child on his lap happily cooed. Whenever he understood Vanth, or he just reacted to cheerful tone of story, he seemed to be enjoying it. Under the helmed, Mandalorian fondly smiled. Despite the sore throat and a bit of fever, he was feeling quite comfortable and let Vanth´s voice to lull him into slumber.

When Vanth´s speech turned into secretive whisper, Mandalorian instinctively focused on it, instantly feeling more awake.

“We should go downstairs,” Vanth whispered to Child, who curiously cooed. “He needs to rest. Trust me, buddy. Some sleep with do him good.”

“I´m not sleeping,” Mandalorian said hoarsely, and Vanth flinched with surprise.

“I´d swear that you dozed off,” he said, grinning. “Maybe you should take a nap,” he suggested, already getting up with Child in his arms.

Mandalorian shook his head. “I´m fine. I just hope I´m not burdening you too much,” he said. “Watching the Child can be… time consuming.” It was fulltime job, no kidding. He didn´t remember the last time he got enough sleep, but it had to be before the green womp rat appeared in his life.

But Vanth only shook his head, still smiling. “It´s no bother. Seriously, it´s nice to have the two of you here, I don´t get guests that often,” he added, patting Mandalorian´s leg and he sat down again.

“Thank you.”

The Child cooed agreeably, and Vanth smirked. 

“What do I owe for this luck, tho? I mean, there are probably better babysitters than me, or at least ones who know something about this species,” Vanth said, thoughtfully eyeing Child on his lap.

“I don´t know what species he is, either,” Mandalorian confessed. It was something that´s been troubling him for a while, but the kid seemed content with basic care he was able to provide. So far, feeding him, making sure that he sleeps regularly, and keeping him safe was enough. It helped that Child seemed to be able to eat pretty much anything (including things that made Mandalorian´s own stomach clench at sight). 

“Really?” Vanth raised his eyebrows. “It doesn´t show at all. You seem to be doing real good job taking care about him.”

The remark filled Mandalorian´s chest with warmth. Failing his foundling was something he worried about a lot, and to hear that he did good job was something he didn´t know how to react to. Swallowing, he lowered his helmeted head a bit. “This is the way,” he said, sounding more rasping than before.

He didn´t notice Vanth placing a reassuring hand on his, not until he instinctively curled his fingers around it and Vanth squeezed his hand back. Silence stretched out, and Mandalorian belatedly realized that Vanth was waiting for some reaction from him. He cleared his throat, but found himself with nothing to say. Only then he realized that he wasn´t wearing the gloves and this was the most skin-to-skin contact he had in way too long. 

Vanth´s smile faltered a bit, as he felt Mandalorian´s hand to flinch in his own. His eyes searched the T-shaped visor. With the helmet on, it was hard to tell, but he was almost sure that the other man stopped breathing. 

“Are you all right?” he asked after a moment.

Shakily, Mandalorian took a deep breath, which turned into a short bark of cough. It took him a few tries to properly clear his throat, but then he just unhelpfully nodded. 

“Maybe I should let you rest after all,” Vanth said caringly. 

“I´m sure you have other things to do,” Mandalorian retorted.

“Nah, I´m taking a couple of days off,” Vanth said. “It´s nice to have some vacations from time to time. Seriously, you wouldn´t believe everything I have to do as Marshal.”

Mandalorian couldn´t stop himself from chuckling. From what Vanth told him, it sounded as if actually being Marshal was less than 10% of his job. Mandalorian just hoped that Vanth got somehow paid for his job. It didn´t seem that it made him rich, but he seemed to be doing quite well, having own house, enough food to share with unexpected visitors… he did well.

Quietly, Vanth shifted the Child into one arm, and he used the free hand to pull the blanket over Mandalorian. He made sure that it would cover ill man up to his neck, and gently smoothed the folds. “Rest now, okay? I´ll be back later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise there will be next chapter soon, but I cut my finger and it´s a bit uncomfortable to type right now. See you soon.:)

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Chapter 10: The Passenger. I mean, it looks to be pretty cold planet and they spent there some time, so what if Mando simply caught a cold?


End file.
